Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-06-04

of the Potomac %flotilla, hear Il thanks!
Take the benediction Of u churches.
Accept the hospitalities of the ration.
II we had our way We would get you
not only Il pension, but "A home and IA
princely wardrobe. and al equipage
ard a banquet while you live, and after
your departure a c%atafalque, and Il
mausoleum of sculptured marble, with a
model of the ship in which you won
your day. 1t is conGidered Il gallant
thing when in n naval fight the flagship
with its
BLUE ENSIGN
goes ahead up a river or into a bay,
It's admiral standing in the shrouds
watching and giving orders. But |
have To tell you, o veterans of the
American navy! if you are as loyal to
Christ as You were 10 the government,
there is a flagship sailing ahead of you
of which Christ is the admiral, and he
watches from the shrouds, and the
heavens are the blue ensign, and he
leads you toward the harbor, and all
the broadsides of earth and hell cannot
damage you, and We, whose garments
were once red with your own blood
shall have n robe washed and made
white in the blood of the lamb. Then
strike eight bells! High noon in
heaven!
With such anticipation. o veterans
of the American navy! | charge YOU
bear up under the aches and weak
nesses that you still carry from the
wal times. You are rot as stalwart as
You would have been but for that
nervous strain and for that terrific ex-
posture. Let every ache and pam, in
stead of depressing, remind you of
your fidelity. The sinking of the
Weehawken off Morris Island, Deem
Der 8, 1868, was a mystery. She was
not under fire. The sea was not rough.
But
ADMIRAL ~DAliLGREN
from the deck of the flag steamer Phil
adelphia. saw her gradually sinking,
and finally she struck the ground, but
the flag still noated above the wave in
the sight of the shipping. 1T was after
wards found that she sank from weak
ness through injuries in previous ser
vice. Her plates had been knocked
loose in previous times. SO you have
in nerve, and muscle, and bone, and
dimmed eyesight, and difficult hearing,
and shortness of breath, many intima-
tons that you are gradually going
down. Il is the service of twenty
three years ago that is telling on yeu.
BE of good cheer. We owe you just
rs much as though your life-blood had
gurgled through the scuppers Of the
ship in the Red river expedition. or as
though you had gone down with the
Melville off Hatteras. Only keep YOUR
dag flying as did the illustrious Wee
hawkcn.
Good cheer, my boys! The memory
of man is poor and all hat talk about
the country never forgetting those who
fought for it is an untruth.
1T DOES FORGET.
Witness how the veterans sometimes
had to turn the hand-organs ON the
street to get their families II living.
Witness how ruthlessly some of them
have been turned out of Office that
some bloat of Il politician might take
their place. Witness the fact that
there is not a man or woman now I'M
der thirty years of age who has any
full appreciation of the four years
martyrdom of 1861 to 1865 inclusive.
But while men may forget. God never
forgetS. He remembers the swinging
hammock. He remembers the fore
castle. He remembers the frozen
ropes of that January tempest. He
remembers the amputation without
sufficient ether. He remembers the
horrors of that deafening night when
forts from both sides belched on YOU
their fury and the heavens glowed with
the ascending and descending missiles
Of death, and your ship quaked under
the recoil of the one hundred FOUNDER,
while all the gunners, according TO
command, stood on tiptoe with mouth
wide open lest the conclusion shatter
hearing or brain. He remembers it all
better than you remember il, and in some
shape reward will be given. God is
the best of all paymasters, and for
those who do their whole duty to Him
and the world the pension awarded is
an everlasting heaven.
Sometimes off the coast of England
the royal family have inspected the
British navy monGuvred before them
for that purpose. In the Baltic sea the
car and czarlna have reviewed the
Russian navy. TO bring before the
AMERICAN PEOPLE
the debt they W to the navy | GO Out
with you on the Atlantic ocean where
there is plenty of room, and in imagi.
nation review the war-shipping of our
three great conficts-1776, 1912 and
1863. Swing into line all We frigates,
ironclads, fire-rafts, %gunboats and men
of-war! There they come. all sail set
and all furnaces in full blast. sheaves
Of crystal tossing from their cutting
prows. That is the Delaware, an old
revolutionary craft, commanded by
Commodore Decatur. Yonder goes the
Constitution Commodore Hull com